At present, unbelievably to us, marks VGC’s fifth anniversary.
When the location first launched on Could 2, 2019 on a small and dwindling funds – expertly timed six months earlier than a worldwide pandemic – we made proclamations of constructing an outlet readers might belief, with no-nonsense information reporting from a staff of skilled journalists.
A half-decade on, we’re proud and grateful for what VGC’s grow to be, and for the help we’ve obtained from you and the broader video games group.
VGC was fashioned round 5 years after the demise of legendary UK video games publication CVG (see what we did there?), an internet site that was within the technique of evolving right into a extra ‘critical’, goal information publication however sadly by no means obtained the possibility to mature past its 34 years.
The staff went its separate methods – some went into recreation improvement, others went freelance, or wrote books – however the dialog in our WhatsApp group steadily turned to the concept of returning to the video games media. What if we might launch our personal unbiased web site? May it work as a enterprise? Would anyone really go to?
Fortunately, the reply to these final two questions proved to be sure. However that was completely not a foregone conclusion: launching industrial web sites and constructing an viewers is extremely powerful. The quantity of power the launch staff put in, I don’t even know if I might personally try this another time.
And we’ve you, the readers, to thank. Thanks to everybody who learn, shared, and commented on our tales. Thanks to each journalist who cited our stories, even after we had been little recognized, to each YouTube creator and streamer who pushed their communities to our work, and to each author and contributor who’s gifted your glorious phrases.
Thanks to each trade occasion that partnered with us, to each recreation writer who returned our calls – even after we weren’t at all times bringing constructive tales, and to each recreation developer who opened their doorways and confirmed us their initiatives.
For a mess of causes, the video games media isn’t a profession that individuals sometimes keep in for longer than obligatory. Often, better-paid professions with stronger profession development come alongside and snap up the perfect expertise. However, talking on behalf of these of us left on the VGC staff, we nonetheless have a powerful ardour for protecting the video games beat, and we’re grateful we’re capable of proceed to take action in a video games trade local weather that has felt evermore gloomy in latest months.
We now have a lot of plans for VGC within the coming years, and we’re actually excited to see how they play out. We sincerely hope you’ll proceed to stay together with us as they do, as a result of we’re assured they’ll be value it for each of us.
Within the meantime, if you wish to help VGC, please comply with us on X, Fb, or TikTok, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or go away a evaluation for our podcast.
VGC: 30 of the perfect options (up to now)

We recognize that not everybody has been aboard the VGC ship since day one, and that a lot of you’ll have missed a few of the options we printed earlier within the web site’s life.
Partly to handle this, and partly to offer ourselves a little bit pat on the again as we attain this milestone, we’ve put collectively an inventory of 30 of our favorite options from the previous 5 years.
There’s a great deal of studying available right here, so sit again, seize your beverage of alternative and heat up your scrolling finger.
Interview: How PlatinumGames is betting on Nintendo experience to form its future
“After I first visited the studio’s Osaka, Japan headquarters in March 2019 – two months earlier than the launch of VGC – I mirrored on the way it spent its first decade making glitzy work-for-hire initiatives for publishers similar to Sega, Konami and Nintendo, however within the course of making a gift of possession of its personal unique franchises.
“… Reduce to 2022, and though it’s taken some tentative steps ahead – notably in self-publishing smaller titles in The Great 101 Remastered and Sol Cresta – it seems like there’s nonetheless a lot of work to be carried out in Platinum’s mission to take management of its future.”
It’s time to get critical about recreation preservation – earlier than it’s too late
“In an age the place it’s no extra painless to protect a online game for these well-versed within the topic than snapping your fingers, it’s ludicrous to assume that there are nonetheless titles on the market that stay nearly unplayable – and in some instances, misplaced to the annals of time.”
Why recreation credit are nonetheless a damaged mess
“Regardless of the massive workforces required to create fashionable video video games – sometimes a whole lot, and typically 1000’s of individuals, unfold throughout a number of, disparate disciplines – persistently firms are nonetheless not correctly crediting these liable for creating the leisure which hundreds of thousands devour.”
Opinion: I used to be a lead on Dinosaur Planet and the leak introduced again nice reminiscences
“This week I used to be as shocked as anybody to see a construct of Uncommon’s cancelled N64 recreation Dinosaur Planet – the mission I used to be artwork lead for 20 years in the past – seem on the web.
“Seeing it up and operating once more brings again terrific reminiscences of engaged on the sport, at a time when recreation improvement was simply beginning to grow to be extra refined with specialised roles for idea artists and animators, moderately than a small bunch of men attempting to do all the pieces themselves.”
Interview: Paper Mario’s improvement staff lays all of it out
“In line with Paper Mario’s improvement staff, the collection’ affection for reinvention is partly pushed by a need to inspire its improvement employees – a few of whom have been engaged on the collection because it started in 2001 – however largely it’s due to a bit of sage recommendation from Nintendo’s grasp creator.
“The philosophy of recreation creation that [producer] Mr Tanabe realized from Mr Miyamoto, and that in flip he’s imparted to me, is to problem your self to create new gameplay,” Nintendo EPD’s assistant producer, Risa Tabata tells VGC.
PSOne’s betrayal and revenge story
“With extra gross sales than Nintendo’s Tremendous NES and its successor mixed, Sony had pushed its former betrayer right into a distant second place. However greater than that, it had remodeled the market and basically modified the sport.”
The story of PS2, Sony’s crowning achievement
“For practically three a long time, no console producer had ever really dominated two console cycles back-to-back. Whether or not due to inevitable complacency, the market’s inherent demand for originality or some form of company curse, every time a console producer had dominated the promote it at all times appeared to say no the second time round.”
That Time When… Nintendo purchased a baseball staff
“To at the present time, Mariners followers are grateful that Yamauchi primarily saved the staff from relocation.
“Though on paper it appeared this highly effective Japanese businessman had no actual curiosity within the staff – by no means visiting them, by no means watching a single recreation, getting his son-in-law to look at conferences on his behalf – the fact was that his acquisition of the staff was a symbolic one, an indication of gratitude to the state that helped Nintendo set up itself within the west.
“He might not have actually cared a lot concerning the Mariners, however he definitely had a mushy spot in his coronary heart for the individuals who did.”
That Time When… EA virtually took over Grand Theft Auto
“In early 2008, EA made an try to purchase Take-Two, kicking off an extended wrestle that got here very near seeing the 2 video games trade titans combining, which might have put GTA, FIFA, BioShock and Battlefield below the identical monolithic roof.”
Interview: The person behind SNK‘s revival
“Yasuyuki Oda isn’t simply one in every of SNK’s most skilled recreation designers, he’s the person who arguably greater than some other, has spearheaded its latest revival.
“…The 50-year-old director and producer helped design a few of SNK’s best video games, together with Deadly Fury Particular (1993), The King of Fighters ’95 (1995) and Garou: Mark of the Wolves (2000). Nevertheless it was solely when he left SNK, and later returned with better expertise, that he reached the height of his powers.”
Interview: The true story behind GoldenEye HD, as advised by its administrators
“GoldenEye Xbox Dwell Arcade, because it was codenamed, finally failed due to miscommunication between license holders and a younger staff who rushed forward to create it, regardless of a deal for the sport having by no means been signed.
“Talking publicly collectively for the primary time concerning the mission, Goldeneye XBLA’s co-project leads Mark Edmonds and Chris Tilston advised VGC that the sport was born from a cellphone name with Nintendo, and finally ended when the identical firm’s executives modified their minds over permitting them to launch it.”
Composers inform us why builders nonetheless don’t take recreation music significantly
“Whereas it’s nice to see some progress being made, whether or not that’s the rising visibility of online game soundtracks, recreation publishers establishing their very own music divisions or others working with unbiased labels and music rights consultants to distribute and market their music successfully, there’s nonetheless a approach to go.”
It’s time for Nintendo to make amiibo enjoyable once more
“You may not realise it, however there are literally over 100 video games throughout Wii U, 3DS and Swap which have amiibo performance, and naturally, the standard of each the video games and the performance varies by title.
“In latest occasions, although, many of the amiibo options have been a bit disappointing in first-party releases, both providing one thing underwhelming or just offering a time-saving mechanism. Skyward Sword HD’s quick journey and the power to insta-spawn Bowser in Bowser’s Fury are simply the newest examples of this.”
Sony can’t recreate the excitement of the unique PlayStation revolution
“In these days, each membership value its salt in all the nation would have a crew of individuals ready outdoors while you staggered off residence within the small hours, who would thrust a bag of flyers into your hand. Just about each a kind of would comprise a slab of black card flyers, perforated into good roach-sizes, emblazoned with the PlayStation emblem and a quote from Edge declaring: ‘It’s extra highly effective than God’. By no means thoughts that that quote by no means really appeared in Edge.”
Amassing video video games shouldn’t be about making hundreds of thousands
“As millionaires struggle over that outdated Nintendo recreation with a uncommon barcode, elevating the costs and making it even much less possible that I’ll ever be capable to afford a Majora’s Masks Journey Set or Panasonic Q, I’ve come to understand what actually issues with my gaming assortment.
“It’s not about shopping for the issues that can sooner or later fund my future, however gathering the trinkets that characterize the issues I genuinely love.”
GameCube at 20: Nintendo insiders on the failed console that modified the trade
“Marketeers concerned within the launch of GameCube advised VGC that in hindsight – and with information of the massive success that adopted with the mass market Wii and DS – they most likely ought to have positioned GameCube extra broadly than their usually macho advertising managed.”
Nintendo, it’s time to launch your music correctly
“The corporate creates a few of the finest music on the planet, however the issue is it’s leaving followers with so few methods of having fun with it.
“Most of the Nintendo soundtrack CDs got away as promo copies by means of magazines or member schemes similar to Membership Nintendo or had been solely obtainable in Japan; the not too long ago launched CD boxsets for Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizon should be imported.”
In search of Perfectris: Mizuguchi on 4 years of Tetris Impact, and past
“We had been so glad. It was an amazing honour, and it gave us confidence and power. We had been tremendous glad. On the identical time, that is Tetris Impact.
“Tetris is already an amazing recreation, however I believe the constructive and good response to the brand new additions and the blending of the brand new know-how to realize the sensation the sport may give was particular. We will make a easy recreation like Tetris and add emotional parts and it made individuals cry. We did that and other people’s response was ‘what the… what occurred?’”
Remembering the time I met Shigeru Miyamoto on the Tube as a youngster
“At this level, I used to be merely happy to have met the person and minted the world’s most beneficial faux press go.
“However the expertise grew to become much more surreal when an completely empty practice carriage rolled up, and I used to be successfully sealed in with the man who made all of the issues I like for over 10 minutes.”
Mendacity to Nintendo and Miyamoto disgrace: Banjo-Kazooie devs mirror on its twenty fifth
“‘It nonetheless amazes me that individuals nonetheless care about it,’ lead programmer Chris Sutherland says in our prolonged video name, which covers the event of the sport, the time its builders needed to mislead Nintendo about an impending delay, and an embarrassing incident involving Shigeru Miyamoto at an E3 social gathering.”
Interview: Takaya Imamura, the artist behind Star Fox and F-Zero, speaks out
“‘Inside the firm [Miyamoto is] nonetheless seen as very type. He’s solely strict with the staff he’s working with,’ Imamura says of his former boss. ‘He must be strict to make the video games prove so nicely.
“‘Despite the fact that I and different individuals take into consideration video games quite a bit, he’s on one other stage. He thinks about video games greater than some other individual on the firm.’ He provides: ‘Even at the moment, I really feel that Miyamoto-san’s presence motivates Nintendo builders.’”
Who’s Mark Cerny, the person behind PS5?
“After virtually 40 years of constructing video games, there are few people with a extra spectacular profession than Mark Cerny.”
“The multi-skilled creator has loved an extended and storied profession within the video games trade, which started within the booming arcade period of the early 80s and at the moment sees him nonetheless on the cutting-edge of video video games {hardware}, because the architect of PlayStation 5.”
Inside 84, Tokyo’s secret Nintendo bar that wants your assist
“Within the coronary heart of Tokyo’s Shibuya district lies some of the attention-grabbing collections of uncommon and distinctive Nintendo objects, however solely a choose variety of individuals have ever visited it.”
Unique: Picross developer Jupiter on practically 30 years of puzzling prowess
“Regardless of its continued success, Jupiter stays one thing of an enigma to some, given how hardly ever it speaks publicly.
“That’s why, as we sit throughout from managing director Norichika Meguro and president Hirofumi Murakami, we’re eager to take this uncommon alternative to get extra data on how Picross is doing, how the collection’ common collaborations work, and what’s in retailer for the long run.”
Toshihiro Nagoshi interview: ‘I can’t betray my followers’
“Just lately, VGC was the primary Western media outlet to go to Nagoshi Studio, the creator’s new NetEase-backed firm located on the outskirts of Tokyo’s fashionable Shibuya district.
“A minimalist assembly room, adorned solely with a framed image of the corporate’s title in Japanese calligraphy, is all we get to see of the developer’s headquarters.
“However we get the impression that, behind its partitions, one of many Yakuza director’s sometimes cinematic recreation experiences is taking form.”
Sure, online game piracy is dangerous for gamers
“Is piracy dangerous? I’m not likely going to debate that with you. It’s a nuanced subject and virtually everybody has their very own interpretation of what’s and isn’t acceptable.
“Is it alright to emulate at 20 year-old recreation that you would be able to’t purchase anymore? Is it alright to obtain a recreation illegally if you happen to weren’t going to purchase it in any other case? Is it alright to obtain a duplicate of an unreleased HD model of a 1997 N64 shooter for evaluation functions? It’s a posh debate.”
Suda51 interview: ‘Ending No Extra Heroes permits us to do one thing new’
“Ever since Suda based Grasshopper 1 / 4 of a century in the past, the developer has been outlined by its fiercely unbiased nature and the distinctive, offbeat, eccentric video games it releases.
“Now that it’s been acquired by an infinite Chinese language tech firm in NetEase, Grasshopper finds itself in unknown territory. However, as Suda explains to us, it’s territory that – for need of a greater phrase – is each great and unusual.”
Trying again on Ubisoft’s wild youngster
“’I had individuals laughing at me within the hall,’ says Patrick Plourde, artistic director on Ubisoft Montreal’s 2014 RPG Little one of Mild. ‘[They were saying] ‘oh, you’re making the little woman recreation’. However I didn’t care’.”
“Because it turned out, Little one of Mild was much more than only a ‘little woman recreation’. After receiving reward from reviewers throughout the board it turned a revenue inside seven months, gained in 5 classes on the Canadian Video Recreation Awards, and spurred Ubisoft to show its builders into a brand new core staff inside the firm. Final 12 months, it was ported to Swap, which led to renewed calls from loyal followers for a sequel.”
Why Treatment is glad it took 13 years to make Alan Wake 2
“After greater than a decade battling to get a sequel off the bottom, Treatment’s artistic director Sam Lake took to the stage in Los Angeles earlier this month to current the near-final model of Alan Wake 2 to press. The wrestle, he stated, had all been value it.”
Q-Video games’ Dylan Cuthbert on Star Fox, preservation and massive PAL borders
“We ask Cuthbert if he was annoyed to see one thing he’d labored on for thus lengthy being scrapped on the time. ‘Yeah, however there’s so many video games – I imply, not a lot Star Fox 2 as a result of clearly it’s a much bigger title and other people seen it extra – however there are such a lot of video games that didn’t get launched and simply disappeared, particularly within the ‘90s,’ he factors out.
“‘And every one had some purpose why it simply didn’t come out, or perhaps three months from the tip they ran out of cash and the corporate went below, or one thing that – there’s a great deal of that stuff within the historical past of the video games trade that you just’ll most likely by no means see ever once more.’”